KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) said it saw no harm in organising an event using Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat’s name despite objections from the late PAS spiritual leader’s family.

The PAS splinter party's secretary general Mohd Anuar Mohd Tahir said instead of lodging police reports against the organisers, the family should be applauding them as they were celebrating his teachings.

“Everybody has a right; this is a free country. We want to give due respect to him as a Muslim icon.

“They can protest but they must understand that his thoughts and achievements [have] been iconised by all, it does not only belong to the family. Why are they so scared about it?” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted today.

Amanah will hold a seminar called “Tuan Guru Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat’s Ideas” next month to discuss Nik Aziz’s efficiency in governing Kelantan as mentri besar for more than two decades as a PAS leader who was respected by both friend and foe.

Nik Aziz's family claimed that the event was an insult to him and have lodged several police reports against the organisers.

Mohd Anuar said the event was in no way an insult to Nik Aziz, who was a PAS member till his demise, and instead was honouring his thoughts and the way he ran the Kelantan government.

Mohd Anuar added that the organisers were planning on going ahead with the event on April 9 and saw no harm despite several police reports lodged against it.

“This is not a political rally, this is just a seminar. We don't need to be afraid. They (the family) should appreciate this if they love their father,” he said.

Mohd Anuar added that the late Nik Aziz was loved by all Malaysians and his multi-racial ideologies were well received.

“We hope that the public is given the opportunity to discuss and dissect the teachings of this special character who was pro-multiculturalism in this country.

“We want to give him the due respect and have the seminar to elaborate his thoughts and the way he ran Kelantan,” he said, referring to Nik Aziz's tenure as Kelantan mentri besar for over two decades.

Amanah's Kuala Terengganu MP Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah, meanwhile, stressed that the family's possessive behaviour over Nik Aziz went against the inclusivity of Islam and its leaders.

“Where is the inclusivity of Islam as a religion that promotes discussions among academics, learned scholars and religious clerics?

“Let the public make their own conclusions after listening to the contents of the seminar,” he said in a statement today.

The keynote address for the event scheduled at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall will be given by Datuk Husam Musa, a former Kelantan executive councillor who was one of Nik Aziz’s protegés, and had left PAS for Amanah in August last year.

Nik Aziz died in February 2015 at his home in Pulau Melaka, weeks after he was readmitted to the hospital due to his ailing health. He was 84.

One of his sons, Nik Omar Nik Abdul Aziz, reportedly joined Amanah in January last year.